Carpet bomb the fuck out of where all that US gear is before tali hides the shit in the mountains once it’s cached no Christian country is gonna be safe for generations. I was actively involved in the Saigon evac, my unit was deployed there, I know some of the guys that were on the roof and around the perimeter, freaky shit stabbing people climbing the fence waiting for rifle barrels to be poked through the masses and get shot in the face. To see it happen again is gut wrenching
Jesus you are saltier than I thought.
My First Sgt at Wpns 3/8 is a strong contender for last American to depart VN soil. He was MSG at the Embassy in 1975. First Sgt Terry Bennington
My favorite memory of him was while at Schwab on Oki.
We would swim behind the barracks in the Bay.
One of the other Marines bumped into to something and called out to me because I had the scuba mask. The water was not its usual crystal clear as a storm had passed through.
So I dove under to see what he hit. I could see white things which I knew to be generations of Budweiser empties than I saw a sneaker...than I saw a white sock, than I saw a calf.....than I swam to shore three feet above the surface.
In my mind there was a body being feasted on by coral snakes and they would see me as fresh meat and swarm.
On shore everyone was like "What did you see?" and it was like that part in Stand By Me where the fat kid says "Whatever you do....don't go in there!" Than the other guys strip me of my mask and immediately go in there but couldn't find anything so they thought I was fucked up..
Later that day they pulled one of the line company Marines from the water. he had got drunk the night before, fell off the cliff and ended up in the water.
First Sgt Bennington called me in his office and with his sort of Southern drawl asked...
"Lanch C'pl McLaine....did you see a dead body in the water this morning?"
So I told him the story and that I kind of freaked out.
His reply was to wIt
"You freaked out when you saw the body? I guess that's understandable......I've never seen a whole one. Dismissed."
Fucking classic.